Whether you are just starting out or you already have a booming business, SEO mistakes can really hurt your small business.

You need to get found when prospects search for your offerings. Today’s marketplace demands having a strong presence on the web.

How do you make sure you are showing up for them?

Are you making mistakes with your SEO strategy that could be costing you customers?

Matt Cutts of Google recently pointed out 5 common SEO mistakes that you should definitely avoid.

On Thursday, June 27, join the Nashville SEO & Internet Marketing group as we discuss the most SEO mistakes that small businesses make.

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Free Seminar @BelmontUniv: SEO Mistakes by Small Biz Websites 6/27 6:30p http://bit.ly/seo4smb627 via @2theTopDesign #SEOMeetup

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SEO Mistake #1: Your Site’s Not Crawlable

First, you’ve got to have a website. However, just because you can see your website doesn’t mean that it’s findable in the search engines.

In order for people to find your site in Google, you first have to make the web pages available to Google. This seems like it should be simple and it usually is. But you’d be shocked at how may websites are hidden to Google.

Search Engines use automated robots called Spiders to look for new and updated web pages. These spiders crawl around the web and save copies of what they find.

If the spiders can’t find your site/pages/pictures/content or you make it difficult for them, you won’t show up in the search engines as well as you should.

SEO Mistake #2: You Didn’t Put the Right Words on Your Page

Think about how your prospects might use Google. Your website needs the words that people use to describe your business.

If you’re a maid service in Nashville, don’t call yourself a “Middle Tennessee residential cleaning company.” That’s not how people talk and it’s not how people search.

While Search Engines get more sophisticated every day, they still like to see the *exact* words on your page.

Also, try to provide information that the users will want. A restaurant’s website should at minimum have their menu, hours and location. Make sure this information is available as plain text on your website. Search engines are better at reading text than they are at reading PDFs or images of text.

Check out our handy guide on where to use the Right Words on your pages:
Perfect SEO: Right Words in the Right Places

SEO Mistake #3: You Focus Too Much on Getting Links

Yes, links help SEO. But quality is sooooo much more important than quality here. Your first priority should absolutely be creating phenomenal content on your website and ensuring a great user experience.

Encourage other great websites to link to your website but don’t ignore other opportunties to spread the word. Engage with people on social media, create a valuable newsletter, and definitely market yourself offline in the real world.

If you focus too much on link building, it’s easy to forget the larger marketing opportunties that you could be using.

Mistake #4: Poor Titles & Meta Descriptions

When your site shows up on Google, the title and meta description can make a big difference in whether people click on your link. Spend the time to make sure these are descriptive and compelling.

At minimum, make sure your pages aren’t “Untitled.” Your title is the single most importat on-site SEO factor. Don’t miss this opportunity to help the spiders understand the relevancy of your page. Also, when a user bookmarks an “Untitled” page, they have a hard time finding it again in the future.

Next, focus on the description. That’s the snippet of information about the page that shows up under the link. While this could technically be as long as you want, the search results will only show about 160 characters. Describe the page and let the users know that your page is the answer to their search query.

Bonus tip: Your page title & meta description are usually the text that shows up when your page is shared on social media. Take advantage of this knowledge.

SEO Mistake #5: Not Using Free SEO Resources

Google offers a lot of information regarding SEO and how to improve your rankings. They have blogs, videos, and great webmaster tools available to help you improve your search rankings.

There are also many SEO experts who genuinely like sharing their knowledge with others. If you’re in Nashville, you should definitely join us at the next Nashville SEO & Internet Marketing group meeting. Our free monthly meeting draws people of various backgrounds & skill levels to discuss how you can grow your business by implementing best practices in Search Engine Optimization.

Have you made any of these SEO mistakes? What other issues would you say are problems for small businesses in the digital marketing area?